Brooklyn, NY emcee and Ruck Down Records CEO Bernadette Price teams up with local artist Terror Van Poo and Boston, MA producer Stu Bangas for a new collaborative feature. The widow of the late Sean Price of Boot Camp Clik and Heltah Skeltah, she has made several appearances on songs in the past, whether it be her late husband’s posthumous hit Imperius Rex or songs by the likes of RJ Payne, Rim, Snowgoons, Ruste Juxx and Vic Spencer. She finally made her debut last spring with “A Widow’s Cry,” and in honor of Ruck’s 54th birthday, it only made sense that she and Terror would drop “Kissing the Ground for Sinners.”
After the intro, “Burden of Proof” begins, with them both jumping over a booming bap instrumental, talking about these rappers being bitches and covering it up by claiming they’re real, while “Big Trouble” weirdly warns that they get a shootout as well as street honors. “Trust in God” has a more chilling feel to it, about people’s faith in a higher power and their guns, than the people who go into “Food,” in which Lena Kane aggressively declares that no one is better than them.
“Fuck You” kicks off the second half of the EP by giving everyone the middle finger, starting with a somber tone before “Gunn Butt” jazzes up their ability to change opinions overnight. The title track finds them both trying to stun all the clowns coming their way, while “Brownsville OG” mixes a piano sample with some kick and snare drums representative of their stomping ground to close out the EP.
Terror Van Poo had already made a few appearances on Widow’s Cry about a year ago, so the idea of him doing an entire EP with Bernadette Price, rapping over Stu Bangas’ production, to honor her late husband’s legacy seemed like something the LP and it could do. Stu’s beats hit harder here than on their Kissing the Ground for Sinners predecessors, and we see the artistic chemistry between the two New Yorkers rather than continuing to showcase what Sean’s widow has to offer as a solo artist.
Rating: 9/10
